XBRL Developments in India

Vinod Kashyap is a Director at  NextGen Knowledge Solutions Private Ltd., which is engaged in the business of nducting training urses on XBRL for banks, rporations, and financial professionals in India. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Acuntants of India and is a qualified Information Systems Auditor.  

XBRL is making steady progress in India for external and internal reporting of banks and mpanies. These advances are underpinned by the work of XBRL India, a provisional jurisdiction of XBRL International.

Regnizing the enormous benefits that an XBRL-based reporting system offers, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) formed a high-level steering mmittee for the purpose of adopting XBRL for various returns being submitted by India’s mmercial banks. On October 6, 2008, the RBI launched its XBRL-based electronic filing system for capital adequacy return (RCA II), which is based on the Basel II-related capital measurement framework. India is one of the few, if not the only, developing untry that has implemented XBRL-based reporting of data under Basel II. RBI has also developed a taxonomy for two more returns being submitted by mmercial banks, namely, (1) the Gaps Position and Balances return for monitoring mpliance of the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by banks, and (2) the so-called Return A for monitoring overnight open positions and aggregate gap limit by banks authorized to deal in foreign exchange. RBI is in the process of adopting taxonomies for several other returns, including annual and quarterly financial statements.
 
Turning to operating mpanies, the Institute of Chartered Acuntants of India (ICAI) has mpleted a draft  financial reporting taxonomy for mmercial and industrial (C&I) mpanies, which awaits approval of XBRL International. ICAI has also finished work on a draft XBRL banking taxonomy, an extension to the re C&I taxonomy.  

The Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange, India’s two leading stock exchanges, have already adopted an XBRL-based reporting system under a unified electronic platform popularly known as the rpFiling system. Currently, the 100 mpanies in India are using rpFiling to submit their disclosures to the two exchanges.
 
The Central Electricity Regulatory mmission (CERC), the regulatory body for the power sector in India, has embarked upon development of an XBRL-based Regulatory Information Management System (RIMS) that would facilitate information llection, regulatory analysis, mpliance monitoring, decision-making, and other regulatory functions.

Finally, the Ministry of rporate Affairs (MCA) has decided to implement an XBRL-based financial reporting system for all mpanies in India from April 1, 2011. There are about  900,000 mpanies that submit data to MCA. However, the necessary regulatory notification from MCA on this system has not yet been made.

Not much has been done so far by the acunting bodies in India to cate their members on XBRL. In the absence of sufficient XBRL-trained professionals in India, mpanies will find it difficult to adopt an XBRL-based reporting system if implemented as schled from 2011. In addition, it is expected that a very substantial amount of work will also be generated because of outsourcing from other untries. Clearly, after perhaps a relatively slow start mpared with some other n nations, India is emerging as a significant force in XBRL adoption.